Pulled Pork Test This Weekend

I’ll give this finishing sauce a try tomorrow. I’ll already have the Traeger going for my back bacon. Can’t hurt to throw on a pork butt!
I'll be doing mine also... hopefully I'll have pics
 
I’ll give this finishing sauce a try tomorrow. I’ll already have the Traeger going for my back bacon. Can’t hurt to throw on a pork butt!
Looking forward to some pictures of the back bacon and the pork butt
I need to do more back bacon.
 
Looking forward to some pictures of the back bacon and the pork butt
I need to do more back bacon.
There will be!
My refrigerator smells so good, just from the back bacon brine. I can hardly wait to start cooking! The other refrigerator has the pork butt, ready to go. That vinegar sauce has me intrigued, I’ve always done BBQ sauce before.
 
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Most of what I have to say has already been said by others, but I am still going to say it🤣

I started out on my smoking adventures 2.5 years ago by wrapping pork butts. After the first 2 or 3, I tried unwrapped & LOVED IT. The bark was unrivaled.

In the last few weeks, I have gone back to wrapping using the pan method. What I do is use a piece of peach paper slightly larger than the pan, then crimp it down with strips of foil around the edges of the pan. Still get the advantages of quicker cooking & juice retention with the pan, but the peach paper does allow some water vapor to escape & helps preserve some of that bark you worked so hard to create. I also add in butter, brown sugar & a bit of apple juice when I wrap.

IMO it is the best of both worlds.

The ABSOLUTE BEST part of it is running the rendered juices through a fat separator, then adding all those seasoned juices back to the pulled pork. Juicy & flavorful.

I’ve got one going right now for the conference championship games tonight.

GO NINERS!

I would say go ahead and experiment & figure out what you prefer.
 
My pork butt has hit the dreaded stall…. I wasn’t going to wrap it , but I did along with putting it in a pan. It was only 2.25 lb and I underestimated the timing. It’s been on for 4 hours at 180’ and 6 hours at 225’. She’s stalled at 187’.
The back bacon turned out pretty good.
 

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I need to get me a better pepper grinder that the one that comes with them. How good is our pepper grinder, do you recommend it?

btw that sauce looks good!
That grinder can be used for anything including coffee, but it is adjustable for diff courses.


Currently unavailable...
 
My pulled pork was a fail😞. 15 hours for a 2.5 lb pork shoulder. 4 hours at 180’, 6 hours at 225’, then put in a pan and wrapped 5 hours at 250’. My Traeger probe finally reached 202’ IT at 11:30 pm. My thermopen showed 207’ (Oops). I wrapped it in foil then towel and put it in a cooler in my garage. 18 hours later I shredded it, heated it and ate it.
It was black and over cooked. Dry, without much flavour.
I don’t know why it was such a pain to cook. I’ve made pulled pork before with way better results.
That won’t stop me from trying again.

Here’s an old photo of a past victory:
 

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My pulled pork was a fail😞. 15 hours for a 2.5 lb pork shoulder. 4 hours at 180’, 6 hours at 225’, then put in a pan and wrapped 5 hours at 250’. My Traeger probe finally reached 202’ IT at 11:30 pm. My thermopen showed 207’ (Oops). I wrapped it in foil then towel and put it in a cooler in my garage. 18 hours later I shredded it, heated it and ate it.
It was black and over cooked. Dry, without much flavour.
I don’t know why it was such a pain to cook. I’ve made pulled pork before with way better results.
That won’t stop me from trying again.

Here’s an old photo of a past victory:
Couple things.
First IT temps are a general guide. Usually done around 200. That said if you don’t cool it down prior to resting it in a cooler it will in-fact continue to cook. Probe tender/ fall apart is the goal regardless of temp. Temp varies in various spots of a butt also.
second, the first goes for the wrap too. If the bark and color are set where you want them then wrap. I don’t care if that’s 150 or 180.
third, nothing wrong with cooking at 225, but it’s certainly not necessary. If you do that for a timing thing then fine, but if you don’t want the cook to linger on for a decade, then just bump the temp 25-50 degrees. 180 then 225 is a waste of your time and will not yield any better results. Probably the culprit for it being black, overcooked and dry. You over rendered a small butt and managed to dry it out with excessive ultra low cook times. You know that’s how they make jerky. Really low and slow for hours. 15 hours for 2.5 pounds is waay too long.
next, the size of protein is extremely small IMO. You will increase your target margin of error exponentially with a more substantial chunk. (@ 8#). This goes for briskets as well. It’s (pork butt) inexpensive and is easily frozen if you want to save left overs.
lastly, the final picture looked more than edible to me so that’s good. Pork butt is the single most forgiving cook out there imo. Don’t overthink it. Set the darn pit at 250. Wrap at 160 or when bark is firm and color is where you want. Continue cook til IT is around 195 and probe it. Once it probes like butter everywhere then remove, cool for 1/2 hour or so And then cooler.
good luck on the next one the journey is a big part of the satisfaction and fun ultimately.
 
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My pulled pork was a fail😞. 15 hours for a 2.5 lb pork shoulder. 4 hours at 180’, 6 hours at 225’, then put in a pan and wrapped 5 hours at 250’. My Traeger probe finally reached 202’ IT at 11:30 pm. My thermopen showed 207’ (Oops). I wrapped it in foil then towel and put it in a cooler in my garage. 18 hours later I shredded it, heated it and ate it.
It was black and over cooked. Dry, without much flavour.
I don’t know why it was such a pain to cook. I’ve made pulled pork before with way better results.
That won’t stop me from trying again.

Here’s an old photo of a past victory:

Mike, not sure what that was all about but I just cooked dual 5lbers overnight under 220 for 3/4 of the cook then 240 and mine were done in 13 hrs. in a cooler for about 3 and were like jello when I pulled them... they were fantastic
 
Couple things.
First IT temps are a general guide. Usually done around 200. That said if you don’t cool it down prior to resting it in a cooler it will in-fact continue to cook. Probe tender/ fall apart is the goal regardless of temp. Temp varies in various spots of a butt also.
second, the first goes for the wrap too. If the bark and color are set where you want them then wrap. I don’t care if that’s 150 or 180.
third, nothing wrong with cooking at 225, but it’s certainly not necessary. If you do that for a timing thing then fine, but if you don’t want the cook to linger on for a decade, then just bump the temp 25-50 degrees. 180 then 225 is a waste of your time and will not yield any better results. Probably the culprit for it being black, overcooked and dry. You over rendered a small butt and managed to dry it out with excessive ultra low cook times. You know that’s how they make jerky. Really low and slow for hours. 15 hours for 2.5 pounds is waay too long.
next, the size of protein is extremely small IMO. You will increase your target margin of error exponentially with a more substantial chunk. (@ 8#). This goes for briskets as well. It’s (pork butt) inexpensive and is easily frozen if you want to save left overs.
lastly, the final picture looked more than edible to me so that’s good. Pork butt is the single most forgiving cook out there imo. Don’t overthink it. Set the darn pit at 250. Wrap at 160 or when bark is firm and color is where you want. Continue cook til IT is around 195 and probe it. Once it probes like butter everywhere then remove, cool for 1/2 hour or so And then cooler.
good luck on the next one the journey is a big part of the satisfaction and fun ultimately.
Oh well. If all of my cooks were perfect, you guys would think I’m faking it. 😜
 
Hey everyone, it's been a while since I've posted... hope you all are having a good 2022 so far!

Instead of a new thread I thought I would post here. Going to be trying Matt Pittman's Mexican Pulled Pork tomorrow - he is cooking at 250f but I try to smoke at a max of 225. I think it will take about 12 hours at 225f - what do you think?

Cheers!
 
My pork butt has hit the dreaded stall…. I wasn’t going to wrap it , but I did along with putting it in a pan. It was only 2.25 lb and I underestimated the timing. It’s been on for 4 hours at 180’ and 6 hours at 225’. She’s stalled at 187’.
The back bacon turned out pretty good.
Looks amazing. You also put in an onion and.... garlic??? I can't tell what that is.
 

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